@ Fritz - Hey in one of the pictures with the crowbar (When I expand it to full size) where you are holding the LEDS, I noticed that the primary is not connected at either end but the signal is going through the secondary to the LEDS in your fingers. How is that a replication of the Stiffler circuit since Stiffler has an open end on one coil? Are you just trying to show that you can hold an LED and get it to light by touching the right power source and your body being a good impedance match? You mentioned the importance of impedance matching - Just curious.
Also, that ebay site sells variable capacitors - do you think that would be helpful in tuning? Stiffler used a silver dipped mica cap. Do caps have reactance speeds?
The reason I ask is in the Meyer circuit, US patent 4798661, Meyer describes what looks like an air plate capacitor submerged in distilled water. Now why would someone go though the hassle of creating that if a simple off the shelf capacitor will work? Could someone teach me about charge/discharge speed of a capacitor?
Sure electricity goes through water quite fast but the charge or bond angle change is about 1mm per second. I am trying to take what I learn from this in regards to distributive capacitance on a transmission line and apply it to Meyer circuit since I keep seeing and hearing similar terms.
Glad to see this forum go back to the CE circuit too.
Well - if you look at the name of the picture "coil as conductor" -
this is NO stiffler replica NOR impedance matching.
It?s just a picture with the leds, the ground, ambient ground from my finger.
(and the coil as connection); quite happy that somebody caught me ;-)
I don?t have the needed material so far (toy radio am coil) as well as I
don?t have the same type of breadboard/plate shield assembly.
I expect that the original circuit catches the energy in the same way I
do it here - with the difference that the coil + parasitary capacitors form
a parallel LC circuit wich oscillates with 18MHz. This is the reason why
the energy can be transfered using the parasitary capacitors - in my case
I have 50 Hz - no way to do it "one wire". Additional the impedance is matched
which gives this high output.
As long as the stuff is build on this breadboard - its quite difficult to judge,
where you have to put in the variable capacitor. Some of this stuff is forming
an LC circuit - if you put the cap in parallel to that you can of course change
the resonant frequency.
Almost any adjustable cap is designed for rf operation (at least for the frequencies
used here). There are ceramic and foil based trimmers with up to 50pf maximum
capacity.
The resonance frequency is calculated by f = 1/(2*pi*root(L*C))
f in Hz, L in Henry and C in Farad.
In case you put an extra C in parallel Cnew = C+Cadded
I think that Meyer uses this C submerged in water to get somehow
a C with dielectric behaviour as a C in water. This C is used in a setup
where water is treated by use of electrodes - another capacitor of course.
If one C changes its properties (water temperature or whatever) the other
C will experience the same effect... does this make some sense to you ?
If you would need an adjustable C which should be tuned in a controlling
loop - this would be the easiest sollution - instead of measuring something
and tune a capacitor with motor or whatever.
Another idea is - that Meyer was so used to water caps as Keely to resonators;-)))
a waterhead.
Why taking a traditional cap if there is so much water around ?
The last idea - and maybe thats the reason - that tuneable caps are for rf and not
for high energy pulsed designs.
rgds.
rgds.
